You Found Me
by Lithium2016
Summary: Songfic. Set to "You Found Me" by The Fray. When a life-threatening situation comes up, Stephanie is face-to-face with God. Choose: Ranger or Morelli. Simple, right? Babe all the way. Rated for language and brief sensuality.


**Second one of the night, whoo! I won't stop 'til I get 'em done!**

**Babe all the way, guys. Another songfic and this is gonna rock! Rated T for language and brief sensual content. Hell, no... It's rated T 'cause Ranger's in it!**

** Song: You Found Me**

** Artist: The Fray**

** Album: The Fray: the album**

(Stephanie)

The only thing I could remember was the sound of gunshots and then blackness as the world faded around me, showing me a tunnel of light.

_I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Where the West was all but won_

_All alone, smoking his last cigarette_

_I said, "Where you been?" He said, "Ask anything"_

(Stephanie)

_Dear God, _I thought. _Don't let me be dead. I can't die yet. There's so much I need to do. I need to grow up, I need to fall in love, I need to get married, I need to have a baby with the man I love... I need to say goodbye._

"Where have you been all my life?" I mumbled. A smooth, deep voice replied from in my head. He sounded like a divine power that can't be described.

_"Ask me anything, Stephanie Plum. That's all you ever had to do."_

Oh, hell... "Where do I begin?"

_Where were you when everything was falling apart?_

_All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang_

_And all I needed was a call that never came_

_To the corner of 1st and Amistad_

(Stephanie)

"When everything happened. When my life crumbled, where were you? I deserve an answer, I think," I said.

_"You couldn't make up your mind between men, though it's obvious who your soul mate is. Carlos Manoso or Joseph Morelli? The biggest choice in your life. You were always waiting for Carlos to make a move, and when he did, you brushed it off. You waited for Joseph to make a move, then you brush it off. You always wanted to remain loyal to the other man."_

"You're saying that the choice came to me over and over, but I never picked."

_"I've given you so many chances."_

_Lost and insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me_

_Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late, You Found Me, You Found Me_

(Ranger)

I broke the door down and ran in, Tank, Bobby, and Lester on my heels. Stephanie was curled up in a corner of the room, he wrists bound together by chains, along with her legs. She was gagged and knocked out.

"Santos, what's around her?" I asked.

"Um, looks like nitroglycerine, boss. You know how explosive that shit is."

"Santos, no joking. This is Stephanie's life we're playing with here," I growled. He took an immediate step back. I edged up to the very end of the pool of explosive gel and reached down to touch it.

"If you touch, it goes off, Manoso," a terribly familiar voice said over the intercom system. The voice of Eddie Culner, the son of a bitch that's been stalking Stephanie for the past month.

I jerked my hand away, fearing that he may set it off for fun. Hatred for him filled my heart, but my worry for the unconscious brunette was more.

_But in the end everyone ends up alone_

_Losing her, the only one who's ever known_

_Who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna be_

_No way to know how long she will be next to me_

(Ranger)

I won't lose her. I'm going to keep her safe. I thought back to yesterday morning, when I woke up and found her lying next to me in my bed. She was smiling, and somewhere between half-awake and half-asleep.

She kissed the palm of my hand; I kissed her neck and she sighed. I heard her seductive laugh as my tongue traced small circles at her collarbone. And it led to something more intimate, causing the most easy and natural positions for us both.

_Lost and insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me_

_Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late, You Found Me, You Found Me_

(Stephanie)

"Tell me that someone's coming for me," I begged the voice. I knew I was talking to God, and I prayed to him that one of the men in my life was trying his damnedest to find me. Silently, I told him which one.

_"So Stephanie Plum has made her choice?"_ He asked. I nodded.

"Yes. I pick him."

_"As you wish, Ms. Plum,"_ He told me.

_The early morning, the city breaks_

_And I've been calling for years and years and years and years_

_And you never left me no messages_

_You never sent me no letters_

_You got some kind of nerve taking all I want!_

(Stephanie)

My body was cold, and my joints were stiff from being frozen for hours. I heard the voices of Tank and Lester, maybe Bobby in the background, farther away. But I didn't hear either of the men in my life that I wished for, I didn't hear the one that I loved and was in love with.

_He's all I want, just let him be here! Give me the nerve to tell him! God, help me out here,_ I thought.

_"You got yourself into this mess by not choosing earlier. He's fighting for you, you know. He's here. Trust me."_

_Lost and insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me_

_Lying on the floor, where were you? Where were you?_

(Ranger)

"Ranger, she's alive," Tank informed me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw her chest moving up and down...she was breathing.

_Thank you, God,_ I thought. _I owe you._

And I really did. He gave me Stephanie back, he gave me Babe back. She would be in my arms where she belonged.

I sighed with relief and knelt beside her barely moving form. Lester and Bobby had found a way to deactivate the detonator that would've caused the nitroglycerine to explode, so I was free to take her in my arms.

_Lost and insecure, You Found Me, You Found Me_

_Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late, You Found Me, You Found Me!_

(Stephanie)

I rolled over on my side slightly and I could make out Lester's and Bobby's forms with my blurry vision. Tank stood behind them, talking to a shadowed man that I knew was my hero.

Ranger.

He was the one I'd wished for. He came.

"Babe," he whispered softly, taking me in his arms. I nestled into the warmth of his body, smelling nothing but warm Ranger and Bulgari shower gel. This was the way things ought to be.

"You Found Me," I said to him. He rocked me back and forth gently.

"I did. I found the other half of my soul."

And he kissed me, like he meant it.

_Why'd you have to wait to find me, to find me?_

**Oh my God! That turned out so much better than I thought! Wow! I'd love it if you'd review and a new song might be nice! Sorry, guys, no Lorena. But I did like the way this one turned out... hmm... makes you wonder, doesn't it?**

**Miracles happen...**

**-Melissa**

**Disclaimer: I own no character but the stalker, Eddie Culner. The song rights go to The Fray. Stephanie, Ranger, and the other guys belong to JE. God is himself, with a slight sense of humor.**


End file.
